Wrong national priorities?

The list of our failures is long but the stifling of the spirit of inquiry, the thwarting of the critical and creative mind, certainly deserves a special place on it. That sorry milieu is, in turn, being fostered by a number of factors. The relentless spread of traditional madrasah education, while knowledge languishes, and the rapid rise of religious fundamentalism in the country, may be foremost among them. But let us be generous and assign a role here to those who are supposed to lead the nation. Political leaders vie against each other in upholding dogma while a pusillanimous press is horrified at the tamest criticism of religious orthodoxy.

Ironically, has Mr. Miah himself been completely free of the old mould? His "we Muslims" lament, for a nation that has over ten million non-Muslim citizens, seems to suggest otherwise.